A course on humanitarian law

1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (165) ◽  
pp. 650-650
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Army Officers

From 4 to 9 November 1974, a group of army officers attended at ICRC headquarters a study course on the Geneva Conventions and on the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The purpose of the course was to train officers with the object of entrusting them later on with the task of disseminating knowledge of the Geneva Conventions among members of the armed forces in their own country.

scholarly journals The updated Commentary on the First Geneva Convention – a new tool for generating respect for international humanitarian law

2015 ◽  
Vol 97 (900) ◽  
pp. 1209-1226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Cameron ◽  
Bruno Demeyere ◽  
Jean-Marie Henckaerts ◽  
Eve La Haye ◽  
Heike Niebergall-Lackner
Keyword(s):  
Geneva Convention ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Major Reference

AbstractSince their publication in 1950s and 1980s, respectively, the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 have become a major reference for the application and interpretation of these treaties. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), together with a team of renowned experts, is currently updating these Commentaries in order to document developments and provide up-to-date interpretations. The work on the first updated Commentary, the Commentary on the First Geneva Convention relating to the protection of the wounded and sick in the armed forces, has already been finalized. This article provides an overview of the methodology and process of the update and summarizes the main evolutions in the interpretation of the treaty norms reflected in the updated Commentary.

Extraterritoriality of Human Rights Treaties

1995 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodor Meron
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Prisoner Of War ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Human Rights Treaties

On the eve of the planned U.S. invasion of Haiti, responding to an appeal from the International Committee of the Red Cross to apply international humanitarian law, the United States stated that [i]f it becomes necessary to use force and engage in hostilities, the United States will, upon any engagement of forces, apply all of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and the customary international law dealing with armed conflict.Further, the United States will accord prisoner of war treatment to any detained member of the Haitian armed forces. Any member of the U.S. armed forces who is detained by Haitian forces must be accorded prisoner of war treatment.

ICRC surgical activities

1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (284) ◽  
pp. 483-490
Author(s):  
Rémi Russbach ◽  
Robin Charles Gray ◽  
Robin Michael Coupland
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Medical Services ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Army Medical ◽  
Geneva Conventions

The surgical activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross stem from the institution's general mandate to protect and assist the victims of armed conflict.The war wounded are thus only one category of the victims included in the ICRC's terms of reference.The ICRC's main role in relation to the war wounded is not to treat them, for this is primarily the responsibility of the governments involved in the conflict and hence their army medical services. The task of the ICRC is first and foremost to ensure that the belligerents are familiar with the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and apply them, that is, care for members of the enemy armed forces as well as their own and afford medical establishments and personnel the protection to which they are entitled.

UN Peacekeeping Operations: Applicability of International Humanitarian Law and Responsibility for Operations-Related Damage

2000 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 406-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphna Shraga
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
First Time

In the five decades that followed the Korea operation, where for the first time the United Nations commander agreed, at the request of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to abide by the humanitarian provisions of the Geneva Conventions, few UN operations lent themselves to the applicability of international humanitarian law

International Committee for the Red Cross: Status of Four Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols I and II

1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 553-560
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Geneva Conventions

The four 1949 Geneva Conventions (for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armed forces in the field, for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, and relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war) can be found at 6 UST 3114, 3217, 3316, 3516 and 75 UNTS 31, 85, 135, 287. The two 1977 Protocols (I – relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts and II – relating to the protection of victims of noninternational armed conflicts) appear respectively at 16 I.L.M. 1391 and 1442 (1977).

Respect for fundamental judicial guarantees in time of armed conflict — The part played by ICRC delegates

1992 ◽  
Vol 32 (287) ◽  
pp. 121-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Peter Gasser
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Principal Part ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Judicial Procedure ◽  
Harsh Reality

Article 75 of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions lays down with admirable clarity and concision thateven in time of war, or rather especially in time of war, justice must be dispassionate. How does international humanitarian lawpromote this end? What can theInternational Committee of the Red Cross, an independent humanitarian institution, do in the harsh reality of an armed conflict towards maintaining respect for the fundamental judicial guarantees protecting persons accused of crimes, some of them particularly abhorrent?This article will first consider the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols in relation to judicial procedure in time of armed conflicts. Thereafter it will examine the legal bases legitimizing international scrutiny of penal proceedings instituted against persons protected by humanitarian law. The next and principal part of the article will indicate how ICRC delegates appointed to monitor trials as observers do their job. In conclusion the article will try to evaluate this little-known aspect of the ICRC's work of protection.

International humanitarian law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts: Recommitting to protection in armed conflict on the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (911) ◽  
pp. 869-949
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
70Th Anniversary ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Conference ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Areas Of Interest

This is the fifth report on international humanitarian law (IHL) and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (International Conference). Similar reports were submitted to the International Conferences held in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. The aim of all these reports is to provide an overview of some of the challenges posed by contemporary armed conflicts for IHL; generate broader reflection on those challenges; and outline current or prospective ICRC action, positions, and areas of interest.

Appeal by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Additional Protocols of 1977

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (320) ◽  
pp. 471-472
Author(s):  
Cornelio Sommaruga
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
The Government ◽  
Preparatory Work

Twenty years ago, on 11 June 1977, the plenipotentiaries of over a hundred States and several national liberation movements signed the Final Act of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts. This Conference had been convened by the government of Switzerland, the depositary State of the Geneva Conventions. After four sessions held between 1973 and 1977, themselves preceded by several years of preparatory work, the Conference drew up two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of the victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and of noninternational armed conflicts (Protocol II).

Humanitarian Law and the Man in the Field

1977 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 96-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. G. Green
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Hague Convention ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Basic Training ◽  
Law Of War ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
Noncommissioned Officer

In 1974 there took place in Geneva the first session of a diplomatic conference called by Switzerland at the instance of the International Committee of the Red Cross to update the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, particularly with a view to the more careful definition and exposition of what might be described as the fundamental humanitarian principles of law with regard to armed conflict. While it would be an unduly narrow assumption that humanitarian law is only relevant to an armed conflict, it must not be forgotten that breaches thereof are more likely to occur at such a time, for the man in the field has normally been trained to overthrow and if possible kill enemy personnel, even to the extent that occasionally his basic training may be in conflict with the requirements of the law of war. Generally speaking, the ordinary noncommissioned officer is unlikely to stress overmuch the restriction on the permitted means and methods of warfare to be found in the Regulations attached to Hague Convention IV of 1907. Moreover, the ideological campaigns which accompany any major war, with comments by politicians, commanders, and media alike, implying that the enemy has resorted to conduct that might only be expected from those who have placed themselves outside the protection of law or morality accompanied by insulting nicknames that suggest the enemy is not even human, all contribute to the ordinary soldier's idea that destruction of the enemy is the aim and the end regardless of the means employed to achieve it. Examples of this type of situation may be seen in both world wars, as well as in relation to the campaigns in Korea and Vietnam. However, international law has always recognized that there is a law of war and that breaches thereof may result in punishment. The simplest means of imposing such punishment, without at the same time appearing to abandon all sense of legal propriety, is by way of the trial of war criminals.

scholarly journals The International Committee of the Red Cross and human rights

1979 ◽  
Vol 19 (208) ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietrich Schindler
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Committee ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
25Th Anniversary ◽  
150Th Anniversary ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The Relationship

The 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant, the 30th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 25th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights were all celebrated in 1978. Also in 1978, both the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) and the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions (1977) entered into force. The concurrence of these various notable events, all relating to human rights, constitutes an appropriate occasion for an analysis of the relationship which exists between international humanitarian law and human rights.

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